Dubai Emerges as Medical Tourism Hub

500,000 EXPECTED THIS YEAR, WITH
FIRST SIX MONTHS SEEING 260,000 VISITORSGulf News8 Oct 2015By SARAH ALGETHAMI | Staff Reporterhttp://www.pressreader.com/bookmark/c-Xp05aRJtjtSFuKvz66bVH7LIib0XWTPApbNkR5ieI1/The
number of medical tourists in Dubai is expected to reach around 500,000 this
year, nearly doubling the figure achieved in the first six months, according to
a government official.The
forecast looks at tourists staying in 1,400 health care facilities, although
the emirate has around 2,900. Tourists are likely to come from within the UAE
and other markets including the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Asia and
Europe, Dr Laila Mohammad Al Marzouqi, director of the health regulation
department at the Dubai Health Authority (DHA), said on the sidelines of the
International Medical travel Conference and Exhibition in Dubai yesterday.She did
not give a forecast for the medical tourism revenue for the year.Dubai
received 260,000 medical tourists in the first half of 2015, up 12 per cent
from the same period a year ago, and generated Dh1 billion in revenue during
the period. Asian tourists accounted for 33 per cent of the total, followed by
visitors from Europe with 27 per cent and GCC and other Arab countries with 23
per cent.Dubai
aims to increase the number of medical tourists by around 12 per cent annually
to “more than 500,000” and generate Dh2.6 billion in revenue by 2020, said
Linda Abdullah Ali, head of the medical tourism office at the health regulation
department of the DHA.Dubai had
set a target last year to welcome 500,000 medical tourists by 2020, but it will
now exceed it by 12-13 per cent, she added.The
emirate aims to achieve its 2020 target by continuing to promote Dubai as a
medical tourism destination to markets like the GCC, Africa, Asia and the UK,
and offer medical tourism packages, according to Ali.Medical
tourists travel to Dubai for a range of treatments, such as plastic surgery and
orthopaedic and infertility treatments. Orthopaedic treatments have been the
most profitable this year, according to Al Marzouqi.The
tourists come on a three-month medical tourism visa, which can be renewed for
another three months.